Sooke Harbour House

If you are looking for a place to get away from the city crowd and enjoy the peace of nature, try the Sooke Harbour House. The rooms are great and the view is fantastic, even at low tide. There is almost mile long sand spit just below the hotel if one wants a little exercise. The hotel also has a very good restaurant. So, basically, it has it all. Though not inexpensive, it is worth the experience.

Location: The hotel is right at the head of Whiffen Spit, which is a crazy skinny natural peninsula that juts out into the harbour. It's a beautiful place to walk anytime of day. There are a lot of beaches nearby. We visited China Beach, which is equal in beauty to anything in Tofino. Are those weird metal rocks at China Beach from a meteorite? Room: We stayed at the family room #28, which is quirky food themed room, This room doesn't have an ocean view like most rooms, but the kids loved the loft, and food theme, which was everywhere. Nice wood burning fireplace. The Shower needs a soap tray, and the couch could be replaced. Huge room. Food: We really liked the Copper Room's fish and chips. 2 Large portions of Ling Cod! for $18. Ling Cod is a superior tasting fish to Pacific Cod and usually more expensive. My wife subbed out the fries for house made soup and was very happy with it. The fine dining restaurant has a changing 4 course menu for $95 and a 3 course for $75. Excellent service. If you have kids, you can order off the kids menu at both restaurants. We recommend the $8 noodles with cheese. I expected little, and was surprised by the quality and portion of house made fresh pasta. It also came with either a soup or a very good quality salad. It's fine dining for kids and an incredible value. Intangibles: There's a lot of attention to detail in the hotel. We received freshly baked cookies daily. The hotel's hallways are an art gallery, and there's a library on the 2nd floor. The staff are all well trained, and when a fire alarm interupted one of our dinners, management made up for it in a big way. It's a small hotel, but there's a lot of staff. We really enjoyed this hotel, and the themed rooms aroused everyone's curiosity. My girls want to stay in the "Mermaid Room" next.

Spent two nights at hotel. The room and the service staff were great. The office was not helpful or warm at all. Nice location - the ocean, the park and the grounds were the top draws. The first night had dinner at the upscale restaurant. Having dined in Paris, London, New York, L.A. And Chicago in the last year - do not expect the quality and the services to be close to a top flight restaurant. But the price will match them! 400$ for a meal without a bottle of wine (2 glasses)....disappointing. Also the hotel makes a big deal about celebrities staying at their establishment - look them up was a long time ago. Site in need of upgrades.

I have so many wonderful things to say about Sooke Harbour House! My husband and I got married at the Totem site on August 5th with reception on the Potlatch room. Jess was fantastic at working with us and arranging the details of the day and making sure everything was as we hoped for plus more! She was of paramount importance to us and it was a perfect day because of her attentiveness. We are eternally grateful! Our guests fell in love with the Harbour House and still haven't stopped taking about how Amazing the food was! Many stating they're unsure how to go back to eating 'regular' food since eating the Sooke Harbour House Chef's mouthwatering and to-die-for dishes! I would've loved the honour of meeting the chef who created our amazing wedding dinner, but got so wrapped up in the magic of the space and the evening I didn't get the chance. My new husband and I just had afternoon tea today in the garden and it was such a beautiful setting and the fresh floral and mint teas from the garden were so wonderful, and again i cannot forget the amazing food! Sooke Harbour House has won both of our hearts as well as those of all our friends and family who attended our big day! In fact my mom and step dad are already planning their next trip to the island with their stay and dining experiences at Sooke Harbour House. We look forward to many more date nights, family gatherings, anniversaries and future vow-renewals at Sooke Harbour House! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Before we left for our trip, whenever we mentioned that we were going to Sooke Harbour House, everyone said "Wow! You are staying there!?" as if that was one of the best places to stay. One lady who had stayed at this hotel in the past told me that they would give us a nice garden tour and let us taste eatable flowers and herbs. I also heard online that it was the place many celebrities favored so my expectations grew high. Upon arrival, we noticed the tiny reception area, which was expected since it was a "charming old fashioned boutique hotel". Because of that, I was expecting a nice and warm welcome with a bit of chitchat. But the lady at the reception was not overly interested in us, went over the very basic information as if she has done it way too many times. Our experience at this hotel from there was consistently and disappointingly "mediocre". Good: - The location was absolutely wonderful! The ocean is right behind the hotel, and I believe every room in this hotel has some level of ocean view. Whiffin Spit is literally beside the hotel which has a beautiful walking path. Our teenage boys went down to the ocean everyday and spent hours looking around for sea creatures. Especially when the tide was low, we went out in the rubber boots (that the hotel had for the guests to use) and saw tons of crabs, snails, gunnel fish, starfish, seals, etc. - I know every room in this hotel is very different, but our room was very roomy (we stayed in the room 11) with a queen size bed, a couch with a fireplace, a table set and enough room left to put in two cots for our boys without making the room look too tight. - They left cookies and port wine everyday. The boys enjoyed the cookies very much. Bad: - Yes, I understand that this is an old building, but they do not seem to be interested in keeping it up. The doors that don't fit properly, cracked and molding tiles, drawers that do not open and close properly, cracked sink, chipped walls, stained shower curtain, very tired looking couch, broken lamp shade, etc. etc...the list goes on... sigh... - Again, the building can be old but I would be happy if it is clean - not the case here. We see spider webs (definitely not dusted for years) at a few places, dust everywhere... there was a nice glass roof to let natural light in but had full of cedar needles on it that mud have sat there for months. - Smell of the fennels was too strong in the backyard! We were wondering what this curry like smell was coming from. We "think" that's the fennel plants that are over growing in the backyard. We could not fully enjoy the ocean side walk because of it. - Their bed was so uncomfortable. I have slept better at Econolodge! - DO NOT EAT HERE! We went to the copper room (less formal dining side) on our first night. We stood at the entrance without being greeted for a couple of minutes (and it was not busy at all) to start with. The server who could not explain "today's special" (she just said "it's ling cod" but could not answer my question: "and how is it cooked?"), food took more than a 1/2 hour during which we were completely ignored, and the food was definitely not worth what we paid for. Stupid us. We made the same mistake a few days later for breakfast. We did not feel like going out anywhere, so we decided to try the hotel thinking that no one can mess up breakfast. Well the food was ok (but again, overpriced), but the service was very slow and terrible again. It started with lukewarm coffee, after asking for warmer coffee, she only brought one cup (my husband and I both had coffee), forgotten sugar, another 1/2 hr wait for food (only 3 tables were filled) and the server kept kicking the swing door to the kitchen. The bottom line: It might have been a very special hotel years ago, but it turned to a poorly managed mediocre hotel. Don't expect much, and then you can enjoy the stay. I still think that it was the best hotel in Sooke location wise.